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Equilibrium
Story Synopsis The Doctor and his companion Moria Skye arrive in Sydney Town: a late eighteenth century British penal colony situated on a dry continent at the very edge of the world. They discover that some settlers have been recently slaughtered and the blame has been placed on the local aboriginal population. Taking on the identities of the replacement Surgeon and his aide, the time-travellers find themselves under siege with the rest of the colonists. It emerges that normally elusive creatures who have occupied the land since the Dreamtime, have been awakened by a mysterious entity who looks on the local aboriginal population as his children. The Doctor and Moria must find a way to protect the settlement from certain destruction but the mistrust between the two cultures threatens to make it an impossible mission. Plot Part One Long before the British colonisation of the Australian continent, a Dutch Colony is expunged from Eastern Australia. As their settlement is overrun by vicious creatures, two Dutch settlers seek shelter in their hut. * The Doctor and Moria arrive just outside the settlement of Sydney Town. As they walk to the settlement the Doctor thinks he feels a strange ‘mental vibration’. The bodies of two settlers are brought to the Governor by Captain Turner, his Royal Marines and Aboriginal guide and translator Jimmy (who' real name is Abaroo). Their injuries are horrible and the Governor curses the loss of their medical officer. The Doctor and Moria enter the town and follow the commotion. They learn that there have been some more attacks on the fringes of the colony. The Doctor immediately demands to examine the bodies, introducing himself as ‘the Doctor’. The Governor is pleased that the replacement has arrived with such speed and allows the Doctor to examine the bodies. The Governor has Lieutenant Suitor lead his daughter and Moria away stating that the scene is not a fit place for young ladies. Lieutenant Suitor takes Moria and Emmeline back to the Governor’s house and then takes his leave of them. The two girls begin to get to know one another. Moria meets the Governor's manservant, George, who suspects something about the new arrivals doesn't add up. The Doctor discusses the wounds of the settlers with the Governor. He wants to examine the site of the last attack. The Governor tells him that far from being noble savages, that the remaining natives are well-organised warriors who have of late been resisting the colonisation. He does not want to risk the lives of his marine corps without good reason. The Doctor doubts that it was natives that killed the settlers. The Governor summons Jimmy/Abaroo, a native who he has been attempting to educate in the hope that he can bridge the gap between the two cultures. Moria learns that Emmeline’s Mother has died and that she has two younger siblings. They are planning to go swimming in a nearby water-hole and they invite her to join them. Moria asks if it is dangerous and Emmeline replies that all of the local natives have been wiped out from small pox. It is only further out that any of them live and have been causing trouble. Moria accepts. The Governor sees the party off. The Doctor refuses to carry a weapon. The Governor tells them to report back by the next morning otherwise he will send an armed search party. Lieutenant Suitor accompanies them as an armed escort. He also secretly gives Jimmy/Abaroo a pistol. George has a meeting with his informant, young Charlie Hawkins, a child convict. Charlie goes through all the latest news. George is surprised that there were no ships arriving. He gives Charlie the job of spying on young Lieutenant Suitor, who he suspects is secretly courting Miss Emmeline. Moria, Emmeline and the younger children walk to the nearby hollow. It is still possible to see the settlement. They begin to swim. The strange mental vibration begins again but it is unnoticed by the children. The Doctor discusses the problems associated with colonisation with Jimmy. He asks Jimmy what his real name is and Abaroo/Jimmy is surprised by how much the Doctor seems to know about the local tribes. George confers with his master in relation to the strangers. He notes how strange it was that there were no ships arriving on the day that the Doctor and his companion appeared - they simply emerged from the bush. Angry at possibly being decieved, the Governor asks where Moria is and George informs him that the children have all gone swimming. The Timara reveals itself and approaches Moria who has not yet entered the water. Part Two Moria enters the water and the Timara retreats. Terrified the children race back to the settlement. The Doctor, Suitor and Jimmy/Abaroo arrive at the now deserted farm and the Doctor begins his investigation. They are confronted with a small band of armed natives. Moria and the other children race back to the settlement. They first meet George the manservant who tries to calm them down and goes to find the Governor. The Doctor and Suitor have been spared by the natives as they confer. Jimmy/Abaroo is advocating on their behalf. Teh DOctor is disgusted by Suitor's disregard for the culture of the aboriginals. The natives, lead by Abaroo’s cousin, hold a coroboree in which they intend to contact the dreamer (with whom they are familar) to learn why the Timara have been killing the white people. Emmeline and Moria explain their experience to the Governor. The Governor is not sure what to believe and demands to know how the Doctor and Moria arrived at the settlement. Moria knows not to mention the TARDIS and invents a story about coming ashore further along the bay on a private boat. Having been allowed to watch the corroboree from a distance. There is music and dancing and Jimmy/Abaroo is suddenly taken over. He orders the death of the Doctor. Captain Turner and a group of Royal Marines rescue the Doctor and Suitor. Several natives are killed. Jimmy/Abaroo bites Suitor as he escapes. Turner explains that they have come as the Governor wants to speak to the Doctor. On arrival back in the settlement, Major Knight orders Suitor to have his hand seen to and dismisses him. Knight then takes the Doctor directly to the Governor. Moria is woken up by Emmeline and told that the Doctor has been brought back. She spies something out of one of the bedroom windows and tells Moria that there is something she needs to do. Suitor is unwell but sneaks off to a shed behind the Governor’s house. He finds Charlie is spying on him and threatens to beat him if he tells anyone about himself and Miss Emmeline to George. Charlie swears himself to secrecy. The Governor confronts the Doctor, wanting an explanation for his presence in the colony and what happened on the farm. Emmeline goes to meet Suitor secretly in a wood shed behind the Governor’s house. She discovers that he has been turned into a creature. What was Suitor moves towards her... Part Three The Governor and the Doctor continue to argue. The Governor confines the Doctor to the settlment and Moria to the house. In the meantime the Doctor is to see to the injured. He dismisses them both. Moria confides in the Doctor about her experience at the water-hole. Knight then reveals that a gun was found with the monogram HE ("His Excellency") on the handle. The Governor admits that it may have been a mistake to arm Jimmy/Abaroo. Knight reveals he is going to inform the Colonial Secretary of the matter. Quite distracted by the threat, instead of following the Doctor’s advice to recall all outlying settlers, he agrees with Major Knight’s plan to sweep the immediate area for natives. Suitor emerges from the shed having partially mutated into a bestial creature. The light and heat make the creature scream and it dashes away into the undergrowth. Emmeline runs away crying back to the house. The Royal Marines sweep the area near the farm and find the now disorientated Jimmy wandering the bush. He is captured, roped and dragged back into the settlement. Emmeline goes back to the house and is met by Moria. Moria misunderstands, thinking that she has been just assaulted by Suitor. Emmeline stresses that he became a sort of creature, but different from the one that approached them at the swimming hole. Charlie “accidently” runs into the Doctor on his way across the settlement and steals his sonic screwdriver. Jimmy is dragged into town and the Governor tells Knight to make an example of him. The Doctor protests but is dragged off to a cell. Jimmy is tied to a post and they begin to flog him. Confined to the Governor's house with Emmeline, Moria is horrified at the sight of Abaroo being flogged by the sadistic Major Knight. Finding him eating in the Governor's kitchen, George demands a report from Charlie on what he observed between Suitor and Miss Emmeline. Charlie attempts to lie but is threatened by George to reveal that Suitor threatened him to keep quiet. Geogre discovers the sonic screwdriver and demands to have it, although having already experimented with it, Charlie uses it to create a sonic boom in order to escape through the kitchen window. The ‘mental’ vibration throughout the bush begins to grow. A convict work gang is abandoned by a group of soldiers and they are slain by the emerging Timara. In his cell the Doctor senses the approaching creatures and begs to be let out of his cell. Towering above the terrified settlers, the Timara invade the settlement. Part Four Major Knight is killed by the Timara. The Governor orders the marines to fire on the creatures but bullets have no effect. He gets them to fall back and then sends for the Doctor. Charlie helps to free the Doctor from his cell. Returning his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor is able to create a sonic wave that momentarily paralyses the Timara. They encounter the Governor. Realising that the Doctor has been right in warning him of the potential danger, the Governor allows the Doctor takes charge of the situation. He immediately to instruct everyone to throw water at the creatures. They do so and this makes them hesitate and they finally retreat. As Moria tends to Jimmy/Abaroo's wounds he begs her to get away. She refuses and due to the primitive conditions of the imfirmary, she is forced to sterilse his wounds with salt. The Doctor explains to the Governor why he suspected the tree-like Timara had an aversion to water, explaing that they are virtually two dimensional, only a micron or so thick. This allows them to apparently vanish by turning side-on (perfect camoflague)to an observer but it also makes them vulnerable to having their molcular structure broken down by larger molecules, particularly water. The more bestial Imjim emerge from the bush, one of them is the almost totally transformed Lieutenant Suitor. Water is shown to be ineffective and a colonist is killed. The Doctor explains that there are two types of Quinkins, while the Timara are normally passive, the Imjin are cave dwellers who hunt at night and are naturally aggressive. The Governor instructs George to personally protect Emmeline and the other children, giving him his pistol. The Governor tells Emmeline that he recognises that she is no longer a child and thanks her for caring for the younger children. George is killed by a Timara protecting the girls and the children. As the marines fight the Imjin with fire on the advice of the Doctor, the Doctor and Charlie find Moria and Jimmy/Abaroo at the infirmary. The Doctor confers with the Dreamer through Jimmy/Abaroo, pleading with him to stop the slaughter. The Dreamer reveals that he once removed Europoeans from the continent who had been ship-wrecked there, centuries before. The Dreamer is revealed to a counsciousness that is the sole occupant of an adjacent reality. Through a rip in space/time he had discovered Earth and the isolated group of humans on the lost continent who he hoped he could raise to a higher level of consciousness by teaching them to live in perfect equilibrium with their environment. His hope was to help them evolve into a gestalt mental entity like himself. The Doctor points out that there has already been cross-cultural pollution and both peoples would combine to create a great culture, evolving beyond his own designs. When Jimmy/Abaroo fights the Dreamer's hold to prevent him from killing Moria, the alien mind despiars at being betrayed by his children and withdraws. The next day, the Governor and Emmeline accompany the Doctor and Moria back to the TARDIS. The Doctor is sure that the ancient mega-fauna known as the Quinkins will no longer bother humanity. Having followed the party to the TARDIS, Charlie emerges and the Governor confers on him an unconditional pardon. He reveals it will take him many years to afford passage back to England. The Doctor offers him a lift! As the TARDIS vanishes a familar vibration can be heard in the background. Continuity *Charlie Hawkins joins the TARDIS crew in this story. Production Cast Doctor Who/'''The Doctor played by James K. Flynn '''Moira Skye played by Karen Holliday Emmeline played by April Sadowski The Governor played by R. Douglas Barbieri Major Knight played by Russ Gold Captain Turner played by Steve Anderson Abaroo played by David Rodwell Charlie Hawkins played by Lee Sands George played by Steve Cahill Crew Script Editor - Thomas Himinez Title Music - Murray Gold Graphics - Matthew Chambers Story by - Kyron Mallet Special Sounds - Soundsnap, David Rodwell Title Sequence by - Odyssey Visual Design, WHO3D Produced by - Allen Davidson Directed by - Peter Hatch Production Notes Number 11DWA172 Copyright 2008 © by Segalchord Productions Links To view Kyron Mallett's other Doctor Who stories See also James K Flynn Era Stories Category:Audio Productions